Dobro Guitar Compare Prices And Buy

Review by :

Of the dobro technique books available, this is the best one so far. The layout is easy to understand, and takes you through the most common keys that one will find playing bluegrass, focusing particularly on playing in open position in G and D, and how to handle the chord changes you are likely to come across in standard tunes.
David Hamburger also makes more sense of Melodic Style playing than anybody else has in any of the dozen or so other books that I have purchased, and presents a fair number of tunes in that style. The melodic style sections take some discipline, but are very valuable, particularly when playing the head to a tune with an intricate or busy melody.
The greatest strength of the book, is that he stresses learning in 4 note units, and then combining different units to create longer lines. Thinking this way allows one to more easily handle tunes where the changes come two chords to a bar, when playing eighth note lines.
The accompanying CD could however offer some slower versions of the songs. It is good that songs are presented at proper playing tempo, but when you are just learning the tune, it is mighty hard to keep up.
The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars, is that there is no time spent on closed position playing. Perhaps he will write a follow-up book. If he does, I'll buy one.

Review by popmusicfan:

David Hamburger has produced a fine book here. As is sometimes the case with instructional books from this and some other publishers, however, there are some conflicts between the tablature and the traditional musical notation. The first pitch of fig. 4 at the top of pg. 20, for example, is an F-sharp in the standard notation, but the tab suggests an F-natural. Since the exercise deals with blues figures in G, it appears that the natural sign simply is missing from the traditional notation. This is not a big deal; however, the player needs to be vigilant and trust his or her ear wherever there is a discrepancy. Hamburger's humor comes through throughout the book, but it's clear that he is serious about his desire to give the player exercises, licks, songs, and soloing suggestions that will really help. As the author suggests in his text, it would be a good idea to take some lessons with an experienced lap-style resonator player, since some of the technical intricacies (such as the technique of angling the bar to touch just one string at a time) can't be fully learned on your own from a book. The sequence of materials seems to be very logical and the exercises are concise and musically interesting enough that players will probably be willing (or even excited) to practice. Hamburger includes a nice history of the Dobro (and resonator guitars in general), and numerous tips for players of virtually all levels. If you're like me, though, and use a roundneck instrument that shouldn't be tuned to high open-G tuning, just be aware that the focus is on the use of GBDGBD tuning. Generally, though, the exercises are easily adaptable for those of us who use DGDGBD tuning -- it does take a little extra work, though. With a lot of material, including some pretty advanced tunes, this is a book that the player can keep working through for some time, unlike some of the overly thin instructional books out there. Make sure that you buy the version with the CD in order to get the full impact of Mr. Hamburger's teaching, and to hear a truly musical player of the Dobro give you a high level example to emulate. Definitely recommended!

Review by Charles Kahler:

This lesson is a great guide to all the basics you will need to learn to play the dobro. Begins with tuning (G-B-D-G-B-D) and some basic G scales; with advice on holding the bar properly and what type of finger picks to use. There are strums, slides, rhythmic chops, and a few riffs, as well as hammer-ons and pull-offs. The songs (Wildwood Flower, Sailor's Hornpipe, Fireball Mail, and Wayfaring Stranger) showcase all the techniques you will learn. Video lessons don't get any better than this.

Review by Navy Blue:

I purchased my Dobro and this CD at the same time. I couldn't find a teacher, so I decided to try video training. For the cost of two lessons, this video covers more material than a private teacher could cover in those lessons. The camera work is simple but you can definitely see the work of both hands. You can jam with the band on each song. I went through the material fairly quickly. I'm going to buy her other Dobro video.